The Flames finally won, but have a hole to climb out of

The Calgary Flames played pretty well on Monday against Winnipeg. And on Wednesday against Montreal. And again on Friday against Winnipeg.

All three games ended as Flames losses.

So after having several good outings but finding ways to lose, you can understand how big Sunday night’s victory over the New York Rangers were for the Flames both in terms of the trajectory of their season and just their short term goal of getting themselves back on track.

Blake Coleman scored twice and Nazem Kadri, Kevin Bahl and Yegor Sharangovich added singles, while Dustin Wolf made 30 saves to give the Flames a 5-1 victory – snapping their eight game losing streak.

“I would just say it’s a weight off our shoulders,” said Flames forward Connor Zary, speaking to the media following the game. “I think it’s been a tough stretch for us. We’ve had games where we’ve done the right thing and we haven’t come up with the result. And I think tonight we kind of put it together. There were still mistakes. There’s still stuff that we need to fix. I know personally I had a couple mistakes. But I think at the end of the day you just feel good to get a win.”

Flames head coach Ryan Huska commended his group for their overall game and shared Zary’s assessment regarding how the group felt finally getting a favourable result.

“There’s parts of our games that we’ve liked and there’s been parts that have cost us, and I thought we did a pretty good job of playing a more complete 60 minutes,” said Huska. “Second period, a little bit we allowed New York to play their game, but we got back to it. And I guess the overall feeling here, to answer your question there, is a little bit of relief. I mean, now it’s an opportunity for guys just to catch their breath and now just go play the game.”

The win improved the Flames to 2-7-1 on the season. They remain in last place of the NHL’s overall standings, staring up at the league’s other 31 clubs. Sunday’s win got the Flames back into the win column, but they have a lot of work to do to move back up the standings.

“I think as a group we lost eight games, right?” said Zary. “We’re pissed off. We know we need to be better. And to a man we knew that. And you can say all you want, we can come, we can talk to you guys and say we’re mad and we need to be better. But we need to have games like that where we come out and have the energy and do those things. So I think that was a good step in the right direction and we’ve got to keep going on the road here now.”

The Flames return to action on Tuesday night when they visit the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first game of a four game eastern road trip.